>> exactly. >> and they're taking pictures of themselves in the bathroom for facebook. people are like, check out this. good morning, everyone. it is wednesday, february 13th. hump day. we are getting there, making our way towards the weekend. good morning. i'm sarah simmons. >> i'm wisdom martin. welcome to fox 5 morning news. it is a dad wit bit chillier than yesterday. >> some would say cold. >> we've got changes on the way, clouds moving in and

eventually some rain and maybe a little rain-snow tonight. cooler temperatures on the way and we're talking about a little snow in the forecast. not going to be a big deal, those of you what are snow lovers but we do have a chance for some snow out there a little later. we're looking at partly cloudy skies here early this morning. see the rain out to the west, towards cincinnati and st. louis, that will be moving in our direction later this affect. a lot of clouds around and then i think by mid- to late afternoon, we'll get rain showers in here. it could transition for parts of the area over to a period of snow before wrapping up later tonight and during the early- morning hours tomorrow. morning commute, no issues. it is cold out there. make sure you are ready for a cold morning. temperatures into the low to mid-30s. we are not talking about a major winter storm here as we get into the afternoon and evening as the bulk of this will arrive as rain. yeah, rain. that is a quick look at the forecast. lots more details on the storm

that is moving in this just a minute. back to you. in this morning's top stories, president obama delivers his first state of the union address since his rehigh pressure election. economy particularly finding ways to boost the middle class was the central focus. the president presented an ambitious agenda to create jobs and boost the minimum wage. >> tonight, let's also recognize that there are communities in this country that no matter how hard you work, it is virtually impossible to get ahead. we need to build new ladders of opportunity into the middle class for all those who are willing to climb them. >> we'll have much more on that state of the union address in just a moment. there are conflicting reports in the search for a former lapd officer wanted for murder. officials say a body has been found inside a mountain cabben cab -- cabin but they are not

saying if it is christopher dorner. a gun battle killed one officer and wounded 11. a massive manhunt has been under way since last week. pope benedict xvi will lead ash wednesday mass at st. peter's basilica today. ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent, a period of 40 days of penitence leading up to easter. this week, the pope announced he will be resigning at the end of the month due to his advanced age. this will be the pope's first public appearance since that announcement. the president called for immigration reform and tougher gun laws. as fox's craig boswell reports, there was much more. >> reporter: in addition to the

jobs and the economy, president obama pressures congress on new gunpoint legislation, immigration and also says nearly half of the u.s. troops in afghanistan are coming home this year. >> reporter: president obama says 34,000 u.s. troops will be pulled out of afghanistan by next year. >> this drawdown will continue and by the end of next year, the war in afghanistan will be over. >> reporter: on domestic issues, the key focus is jobs, the economy and pressuring congress to void automatic spending cuts on march first. >> they would certainly slow our recovery and cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs. >> reporter: victims of gun violence attending the speech along with the first lady underscored the pre's fish for lawmaker to pass new gun legislation. >> gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of tucson and

blacksburg and the countless other opportunities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> reporter: the president said it is pastime for bipartisan immigration legislation. republicans say the president's focus really means more spending and deficits. >> his solution is for washington to tax more, borrow more and spend more. >> reporter: president obama now takes his message on the road hitting three states in three days beginning with north carolina tomorrow followed by atlanta on thursday and chicago on friday. friday. in washington, craig boswell, fox news. >> we still have plenty ahead. your weather, traffic and all your top stories. >> fox 5 morning news at 4:30 starts now. arts now. >> it is wednesday, february 13th. this is a live look outside. a cold start to your morning. good morning to you.

i'm wisdom martin. >> i'm sarah simmons. welcome to fox 5 morning news. let's say hello to tucker barnes and get the latest on our weather. so, it is quiet right now. not going to stay this with a show, is it. >> we have rain showers back in the forecast this afternoon and later tonight, it might transition over to periods of snow. not talking about a major deal. >> a dust something. >> a covering dusting. as you get up towards frederick and hagerstown, maybe an inch or two. >> but that dusting, we start to go crazy. >> remember yesterday, we were in the mid- to upper 50s so we don't have a lot of cold memory here at the surface. a lot of what falls won't stick. so this is not a major storm by any means. >> don't go get bread and toilet paper? >> you might need that anyway. we're in the going to look like boston tomorrow afternoon. 34 at dulles and at bwi

marshall. 36 at reagan national. it has goten noticeably colder than it was yesterday. cooler air here with the clear skies that we have overnight. clouds moving in from the west and you will see here on our magical satellite picture that we've got -- as the maps change, we have increasing clouds on the way. you can see the cloud cover moving in from the west and it will be a mostly cloudy morning. i think by mid afternoon, the showers move in. it will transition, washington, just think about 59 north and west. it will transition over to snow about 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 and end as a brief period of snow for us. warm enough to rain this afternoon. >> thank you. time now to check in with julie wright to see how that early, early morning commute is going. >> so wait a minute, you get tongue tied over the word transition but you can say bombogenesis.

>> yeah. >> he told me that last week and i've been trying to use it in a sentence. >> you just did. >> the sentence is i know how to say bombogenesis. this is the wilson bridge. traffic flowing freely. the accident activity here has cleared. the accident activity was in the through lanes. all lanes now open. no issues reported right now on the inner loop leaving 210 and 295 headed back across the bridge. 395 in great shape as well. no issues reported in the express lanes or main lines headed out to the 14th street bridge. and southbound on i-95. overnight construct is in place as you head out to the icc. that is in in the process of being cleared. our big story this morning, forensic tests are needed to determine if the body found

inside a burned mountain cabin is christopher dorner. the former l.a. police officer wanted for murder engaged in a gun battle with police officers tuesday. a deputy was killed in the shootout and another wounded. after the gunfire, the cabin went up in flames with no signs of dorner. a massive manhunt for dorner has been under way since last week when he set out on a series of he venge killings after being fired from the force -- revenge killings after being fired from the force. in president obama's state of the union address last night, much of the focus was on the economy and jobs. >> he made headlines for his call to raise minimum wage but also tackle gun control calling on lawmakers to at least vote on a measure no matter where they stand on the issue. >> tonight, let's declare that, in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour.

gabby giffords deserves a vote. the families of newtown deserve a vote. the families of aurora deserve a vote. the families of oak creek and tucson and blacksburg and the countless other communities ripped open by gun violence, they deserve a simple vote. >> the president is hitting the road to sell his agenda. today, mr. obama will be in the asheville, north carolina area. then it is onto atlanta tomorrow and chicago on friday. the republican response to the state of the union was delivered by florida senator marco rubio. senator rubio said the president is hurting the middle class by steering the nation away from a free market economy. he used the rebuttal to rail against bigger government. >> more government isn't going to help you get ahead. it will hold you back. more government isn't going to create more opportunities. it is going to limit them. more government isn't going to inspire new ideas, new businesses and new private sexer jobs t will create

uncertainty. president obama maintains that the nation can prosper with what he calls a smarter government, not a bigger one. >> our state of the union coverage continues on fox 5 morning news and myfoxdc.com. coming up this hour, more on the significance of the special guest at last night's speech. at 5:00, area lawmakers react to president obama's plan to address looming defense budget cuts. cuts. now to our other top stories, shock and grief on the university of maryland campus as the school tries to understand why a graduate student would shoot his two roommates and then himself. police say devon green let several small fifers in the basement and backyard yesterday to lure his roommates outside. he then pulled out a gun and began firing. one roommate was killed and the other wounded. green then shot and killed himself. green's family says he was battling a mental illness and needed medication. a load gun, machete and

baseball bat were all found near green's body. an expanded smoking ban in montgomery county has unanimously been approved by the county council. the new law prohibits smoking on property owned or leased by the county. that includes bus stops, parks and parking garages. maryland has some of the strictest smoking laws in the country. coming up next, we continue to follow developments out of north korea this morning. >> international outrage over the nation's growing nuclear threat following another round of tests on tuesday. now, its biggest ally has words of warning. also ahead, pope benedict xvi making his first public appearance today since this week's shocking announcement of his resignation. we'll have the latest coming up. 

for the first time since the surprising announcement of

his resignation, pope benedict xvi will appear in public today. the 85-year-old pontiff is leading ash wednesday mass at st. peter's basilica. this is a live picture right now that you are looking at on the screen. it is normally held in another location but was moved to accommodate a larger than usual crowd. it will be the pope's second to last public appearance before he officially resigns at the end of the month. ash wednesday marks the beginning of lent. in our area, cardinal donald wuerl, archbishop of washington will hold ash wednesday mass. the archdiocese is offering a campaign called the light is on that is encouraging catholics to go to confession during lent. every wednesday, more than 200 churches in the area will be open wednesday evening for confession. ession. fur. we continue to follow a developing story out of north

korea following tuesday's nuclear test. shine has called in the north korean ambassador for some words of warning. china is north korea's biggest ally and main source of aid but its phish minister is demanding north korea stop making threats. united nations is promising more action culling this week's nuclear test a clear threat to security. -- its foreign minister is demanding north korea stop making threats. in a solid show of bipartisanship senators passed a law with new previsions to make sure gay and native americans have equal access. this time, leaders in the house say they will move quickly to come up with their own legislation. coming up next, parts of new england continue the big

dig up there. >> our crews are making progress in clearing out all that snow from last weekend's blizzard. now, they just have to find a place to put it all. we'll talk to tucker barnes right now though. thank goodness we don't have that. >> we don't have that. maybe a little snow in our forecast later this afternoon and tonight. i'll have all the details on the weather. we have a cold start as well. julie has a look at the traffic as well. we'll do it coming up in just a few minutes. lucky charms?!

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welcome back. parts of new england, they are still digging out from last weekend's blizzard. so much snow in the boston area that dump trucks are having to haul it away n burlington, massachusetts, prison inmates are working to clean off the fire hydranted you see there. snow melters are being used in some cities but crews were not able to use them because there was too much snow. it's been a while since we had that problem. >> i remember we had the same issue. >> we were hauling it out too. >> dumping it in the rivers, remember? >> that's right. nice and quiet though right now. >> no snow, no rain right now, just cold early in the morning as we take a live look outside over the washington, d.c. area and the washington monument. >> even some of that precipitation we do have is not going to be anything major. >> obviously, not like that. we may get some accumulations later tonight, starting late

this afternoon and tonight t won't -- it won't be a major storm by any means. we've seen the storm come through and drop an inch in some places. with temperatures so warm yesterday, i don't expect much of it will stick on roadways even to the north and west. we have cooled off overnight. temperatures have dropped below freezing for much of the area. that will help set the stage a little bit as we get into the afternoon, evening hours for parts of the area to get some snow. generally washington, points north and west have the best chance of a little mixed transition to snow here as we get into the evening hours. your morning commute will be just fine. i think even your evening commute will be basically just wet with rain showers moving around. this will be after 7:00, 8:00 tonight. 34 in baltimore. 28 in gaithersburg. 37 in leonardtown and in cambridge. you can see 20s to the north and to the west. hagerstown at 29 degrees and 29 in martinsburg. we are setting the stage here with some cold temperatures off

to the north and west. highs later today, low 40s. maybe low to mid-40s as we are starting the day with some clear conditions but you can see clouds off to the south and west. those will move in shortly. it will be a mostly cloudy day. as we get into the afternoon hours, our developing storm system out to the west will start to roll on in here and bring us first a period of rain showers and then we'll see the transition as mentioned. some of the colder air mixes in, that transition over to some snow takes place. futurecast does a nice job showing you the setup here. most of the area with the exception of some of our friend well out to the west are getting some light rain showers with temperatures in the 40s. the colder air starts to mix in and then late this afternoon and tonight, there we go, the transition starts to take place. and notice the set-up again, 95 north and west getting some snow while south and east you are primarily just rain. this line could shift a little here or there. you get the idea that later tonight, we could see a period of some snow here north and west and how much accumulation,

maybe an inch. maybe as you get further north, an inch or two up towards the pennsylvania border. the whole system will wrap up quickly and by tomorrow morning, we should start to clear out. we'll probably have slippery spots early tomorrow morning. advisories, not much anything around here locally. you have to get out west for a winter weather advisory. we've got nothing here although the weather service has given us a heads up. 44 today. afternoon showers again. this will transition over 7:00, 8:00, 9:00 tonight. light accumulations possible. best chance north and west of town. maybe an inch of snow. that would be about a worst case scenario unless you are well off to the north and west. then it could be a couple of inches. there is your accu-weather seven-day forecast. sunny tomorrow, mild on friday. a very cold front and then colder this weekend. still looking at the coastal storm but i think it develops

offshore so probably won't impact us a whole lot. that is weather. let's get the latest from julie wright. looking good, julie. >> thank you, tucker. i owe you a cup of coffee now. >> yes, you do. >> 395 northbound in both the express lanes and main line, no issues reported as you continue north out to the 14th street bridge. traffic is flowing freely on the beltway between annandale and merrifield. southbound along i-95, this is where we had the overnight construction that was lined up at 198. no issues have been reported. beltway looks good traveling between college park and 270 and now south on 270, lanes are open, a nice easy drive south of 118 headed out towards 124. no issues continuing out of rockville headed to the leap divide. traveling to and from the wilson bridge, overnight crash we had on the outer loop coming from virginia headed into oxon hill has cleared. inner loop, at speed headed back over towards route one. that's a check of your fox 5 on-time traffic. e traffic. a touch be honor for

grieving parents at the state of the union address. several parents of victims of gun violence were invited to attend the event. one mother lost her daughter in one of the words shootings in d.c. history. nardeen jeffries' daughter was killed with four others in eye drive-by shooting on north capital street back in 2010. since then being jeffries has dedicated her life to preventing if you arer gun violence. delegate eleanor holmes norton invited her to watch the address last night. >> it is very needed, very important and i just feel like it is a part of i guess the legacy of my daughter. >> first lady michelle obama also invited the parents of 15- year-old hadiya pendleton to sit next to her. she was killed in chicago not long after participating in the inaugural parade here in d.c. also at the address, virginia congressman jerry connelly invited the father of a student killed in the

virginia tech massacre. sick students killed in the tragedy were all residents of his congressional district. several other guests seated with the first lady including a few from this area. jack androca is a teenager who developed a new way to detect pancreatic cancer. tracy hepner is the founder of a military partners and families coalition to provide support for lgbt residents. coming up next, it could have been a nightmare scenario. >> a crane collapses above a church with preschoolers playing inside. how one worker's quick thinking got everyone out safely. we'll be right back. [ mom ] dear chex cereal,

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elementary school shooting in connecticut. tonight, in fairfax county, police sand safety experts are holding a meeting to give parents details on keeping kids safe. it is at the sully station police station on stonecraft boulevard in chantilly is 7::30. two crane workers are recovering this morning after the crane they were working in collapsed. it happened yesterday at st. luke's epink pal church in fort hunt. the workers from the b & m tower company were working on the church's roof. the trane crane operator felt the truck tipping and alerted the crew. a preschool type offer a what has happening. the employees and nearly 70 students were able to evacuate safely. a push to parents more in the district whether their kids repeat lid skype schools is not sitting well with d.c. families and some officials. a new bill calls for the government to step up if there

are 10 unexcused absences in a year and automatically prosecute parents for 20 absences. it also calls to d.c. family services to get involved for students up to 17 years old. right now, the only investigative truant who are 13 or younger, so far this year,en students have missed 11 days of school. coming up next, the party is over. new orleans wraps up mardi gras, 2013. >> off the mat. one of the oldest olympic sports will not be a part of the games in 2020. we'll have one aspiring athlete's reaction to that. hey! did you know thahat honey nut cheers

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celebration shortly after super bowl crowds cleared out. a little quieter. everybody is moving a little slower this morning. some of of the oldest olympic sports but wrestling in the olympics will soon be a thing of the past. beth parker talked to one olympic hopeful about the impact of this decision. >> helen was the first girl in maryland to place at the state tournament in wrestling. >> helen me result of lis in the red from rockville, maryland w. >> reporter: she had dreamed of being an olympic champion. at 17, she was the youngest woman ever to make the world team. now, international olympic committee says it will eliminate wrestling as an olympic sport in 2020. >> hell insent me a text message at 5:30 in the morning telling me, read this article and this is horrible. this would be so sad and she

actually wrote i love wrestling so much, i can't believe this. >> reporter: helen's mom, paula spent a lot of time shuttling her kid to wrestling tournaments. >> we would get in the car and drive to toronto, rhode island, connecticut. i used to make a joke, i'd been to every cornfield in pennsylvania. >> reporter: helen is still on the move. she talked to from the airport on the way to an airport in ukraine. >> i love wrestling. >> this is a photo of helen ads a kid on the greek island where her dad grew up. >> i'm blind sided. the last thing i heard, they were going to add more weight classes for the women. they've never, ever talked about dropping wrestling. it is one of the original sports. the oldest sport there is. >> reporter: now, rio 2016 could be hell in's final chance. she did attend the london olympics as an alternate. >> i just had such a sense of national pride. it is not about the money or